A. Subramanian, Chief General Manager, BSNL- Chennai Telephones
Not many are aware that we offer one per cent discount to customers who utilise online facility for paying bills. Online booking not only reduces the load off counters, but also pays us instantly. At present we may not have a lot of people paying the bill online, but even that number is significant considering it is steadily increasing. A mandatory detailed acknowledgement of the money received with all details about the payment will hopefully encourage more to seek this route. We are working on that front.
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Priya Raghavan, freelance content writer
My husband and I are regular users of various online services for four years now. With instant receipt generation and status updates, complete history is available online for all the payments made. Yet, we continue to watch out for stumbling blocks such as cyber security threats and process getting aborted at times in between transactions. Refunds against cancellations, which either get delayed or become next to impossible, especially when it comes to cinema or Railway tickets booked online.
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G.Rajan, secretary general, Consumers Association of India
We receive 5 to 6 complaints on a daily basis from consumers. Many are finding the customer care system in place when dealing with companies extremely frustrating as they are put on hold indefinitely while trying to lodge a complaint. This is not good from a holistic point of view. A consumer's grievance should be addressed directly by companies. Instead, consumers end up approaching consumer organisations to intervene on their behalf.
